Dinner was forced to stop prematurely.
Mary had wanted to make Melanie vomit, but she couldn’t withstand external stimuli, so she first had to be rushed back to the bedroom, pull down the curtains, and provide her with a quiet environment.
Immediately after, she found □□ in the medicine chest, which was a tranquilizer specially used to treat panic disorders, and could effectively treat convulsions.
The two measures worked together, and Melanie's condition improved significantly.
Lei Ao wanted to stay and take care of her, but Mary said, "She needs a quiet environment. Extra sounds and light may trigger another convulsion."
So he had to stop, and went back to the dining room with the others.
Jian Jing was walking around the dining table with her phone, taking photos from multiple angles.
Kimberley asked loudly, "Why won't you let us go see Mela?"
"Are you a doctor?" Jian Jing asked.
Kimberley said excitedly, "No, but I..."
"A crowd won't help, and I need you to stay as witnesses," she said.
"Witnesses to what? To show how heartless you are?" Kimberley was very angry.
Jian Jing said, "Obviously, this is a case of poisoning. I'd rather not have everyone leave and let the perpetrator quietly dispose of the evidence."
"Poisoning?" Holen was the first to come in and ask, "Why are you so sure?"
Jian Jing said, "Melanie has the classic symptoms of strychnine poisoning. Unless she happened to eat deadly nightshade, I can't think of any reason why she'd be like this."
Mary came in second, frowning, "Where was the poison slipped in?"
"The wine, or maybe something else too, I can't be sure," Jian Jing gave her conclusion, "It would be best to put everyone's food in containers and give it to the police to test."
"That's not difficult, there are plenty of things in the kitchen," Mary said. "But Barna only has a small police station. I dare bet they don't have the ability to solve murder cases."
Bear George disagreed: "Don't talk like that about Old John. He just likes to drink a little too much, is a little muddled in the head. At least last month, he still caught the little rascal who was shoplifting at the convenience store."
Jian Jing: "..."
Let's just say, your country is no good.
"Well, that's fine too," she said calmly, "We'll hold on to it for now. Strychnine doesn't break down easily, so there will still be traces detectable after some time."
"Alright, I'll grab some containers. Uncle George, come with me too. We should witness for each other, right, Miss Jian?" Mary asked sharply.
"I'd prefer for us to package them separately. Would you be able to carry so many boxes by yourself?" Jian Jing shot back.
Mary looked at her for a moment, sensing some goodwill, and her tone softened: "Perhaps you're right." She dragged the still muddled Bear George and forcibly pulled him away.
The air stagnated for a moment.
Kang Mu Cheng looked at Lei Ao, concern showing in his eyes. His friend's face was very ugly, pale with a tinge of green, definitely not just worry or anger. It seemed there was an unmissable trace of...fear?
On behalf of his friend, he asked: "Do you suspect not only Melanie was poisoned, but someone else among us too?"
But Jian Jing just shook her head and said, "We've eaten most of the meal already. If someone else was poisoned with strychnine, symptoms would have appeared by now. Of course, if it was in capsule form or mixed with the food, onset would be much slower. But I don't think there's any particular need to worry."
The motivations for poisoning could be:
1. An action targeted at Melanie personally, so the others should be fine.
2. A random act against whoever was present, so if the timing was the same, lack of symptoms means lack of poisoning.
3. Mass poisoning of everyone, ditto.
Carl couldn't help but speak up: "I don't understand, who would do this? What's the benefit?"
His wife Kimberley reacted faster, and found it easier to speculate: "It's a wedding, dear. A wedding is about to be held here--what other reason could there be?"
Holen nodded: "Lei Ao, this is intimidation."
Si Yingjie was confused listening in for a while, but finally started to get it. He whispered to Jian Jing, "It was Mary right, she likes Lei Ao."
Jian Jing: "Pfft--"
Si Yingjie glared angrily at her.
She turned her back, pretending nothing had happened.
Lei Ao didn't know their secret. After thinking for a long time, he seemed to make up his mind and said, "No, Auguste, it's not so bad. This is just a particularly intense dissuasion--Melanie's condition isn't serious, right?"
If only she drank more, Jian Jing thought but didn't rashly contradict him.
Lei Ao used the word "dissuasion". Why?
Kimberley asked anxiously, "Then the wedding..."
"I'm already registered as married to Melanie. The ceremony won't change anything," Lei Ao said quickly. "We'll talk about this afterwards. If the snow stops tomorrow, I'll take Mela to the hospital first."
His gaze swept over each person as he took a deep breath: "That's it. I'm a little tired, sorry."
Without waiting for the guests to respond, he got up and left the dining room.
Kimberley immediately stood up and gathered her shawl: "I'm going to check on Mela."
No one stopped her. Carl followed along.
Holen asked the other men: "Cigars?"
It was only 8:30, too early for bed. Feeling bored, Si Yingjie extricated himself from the armchair: "Sure, just the thing to liven up. Mu Cheng, you coming?"
Kang Mu Cheng looked at Jian Jing, then agreed.
Jian Jing was left alone in the dining room waiting for Mary.
Five minutes later, Mary came back pushing a trolley, but this time it wasn't laden with delicious dishes, but brand new plastic containers.
"George has to clean up the kitchen. The two of us should be fine right?" she asked.
Jian Jing said, "Of course."
The two started clearing the dining table, pouring each person's food and drinks into separate containers, labeling them.
Mary noticed that Jian Jing's actions were very meticulous. She used clean forks to stir the dishes, swirled the soup bases, and would also pick up glasses of wine, examining sediment under the crystal lamp.
Only after doing all this did she seal the containers and stick on the name tags.
"You don't seem like a doctor," Mary said.
Jian Jing: "I'm not one. Are you a doctor?"
"I don't have my license yet," she said calmly. "If you want to know why I'm working as a maid here when I went to medical school, you can just ask directly."
Jian Jing readily said, "Why?"
"My mother used to be employed at Castle Winterfell. After she passed away, Lei Ao funded my college tuition," Mary frankly told her. "In return, I come to work here during holidays."
Jian Jing realized this red-haired girl was someone who liked being direct. So she got right to the point: "You don't seem to approve of this marriage?"
"Yes," Mary readily admitted, and went on, "That's right. So now, I'm the prime suspect?"
"Because of the champagne you poured? No." Jian Jing slowly said, "It was the wine Lei Ao poured."
As expected, Mary hurriedly denied it: "It can't be Lei Ao. He loves her very much."
"Then why don't you approve?"
Silence for a moment.
"It's unrelated to the poisoning. I don't want to answer," Mary said coldly.
Jian Jing tactfully changed the topic: "Who do you think would 'dissuade' Lei Ao in this kind of way? If Melanie drank a little more, he'd be a widower already."
Mary looked thoughtful for a while, then said, "I don't know. Maybe Mr. Holen is right that it's intimidation."
"Intimidating who?" Jian Jing asked.
Without thinking, she immediately said: "Obviously Lei Ao."
"Who would want to intimidate him? We're all friends here for his wedding." Jian Jing blinked and recalled the pizza shop experience at noon. She ventured, "Could it be...the townspeople?"
A trace of gloom flashed through Mary's eyes: "Barna isn't a famous place. I don't know if it's like this in your country, but in Barna, everyone knows each other. Many people's families have lived here for generations. They don't like Castle Winterfell."
"Why?"
"Real estate," she said icily. "The Sal family bought up a lot of land, some of which had been in other families for generations. When they were short on cash, they sold the land, but later said the Sal family had taken advantage of their hardship."
Mary spoke faster: "That's what I think happened: during the day, one of the people who came to help out at the castle harbored a grudge. They found a way to slip in poison somewhere, not necessarily targeting Melanie, anyone would do. Just to get back at Lei Ao."
Plausible.
But Jian Jing instinctively felt Mary hadn't told the whole truth, or at least not the complete truth.
As they were talking, the two of them had already packed up neatly, and worked together to send the airtight container into the underground ice cellar. This was a purely natural cellar that could maintain a low temperature in the cold winter without any equipment.
Mary found an iron box and put the container in it, locking it up.
She handed the key to Jian Jing, "I guess you don't feel at ease with it being kept in my hands. Here, you take it."
"You seem to trust me a lot?" Jian Jing was a little surprised.
Mary said, "You have no relationship with Lei Ao, so you are under the least suspicion. Of course, the other man is also fine, but he looks completely unreliable."
"Thank you for trusting me. I will keep it safe," Jian Jing put the key in her pocket.
Mary said, "It's very late. I'll walk you back to your room."
"No need. I know the way."
"There are many forks in the castle. Some were left for the servants in the past. Don't wander around, or you'll easily get lost," Mary warned meaningfully, "If you hear any strange sounds, it's just the wind."
Jian Jing smiled, "Okay, I'll remember that."
The two parted ways.
Unfortunately, Jian Jing's way back was very uneventful, and she did not hear any strange sounds.
The fatigue from the journey had not yet dissipated. She did not tour the castle again, and took a hot bath early, flipping the mattress to the firmer side.
Then, turning on the wall lamp, she wrote down her thoughts in her notebook.
Sitting - Quietly, only Melanie's wine was problematic.
Indiscriminate killing? Specific target?
Lei Ao, Castle Winterfell, what are the strange sounds?
Melanie ate very little, she has something on her mind? Pre-wedding jitters?
Kimberley is very concerned about the wedding. Why?
Holen was the first to threaten.
Mary does not approve of the wedding. Is she involved with Lei Ao?
Real estate? The attitude of the townspeople towards Castle Winterfell.
Full of puzzles, even more than the fallen hair.
Jian Jing only thought about it for a while before she felt sleepy from the myriad of threads.
Unconsciously, she fell asleep.
In the middle of the night, the eerie, ethereal singing woke her up.
From the cracks in the ceiling, the compartments in the walls, the depths of the pipes underground, came strange singing. The syllables were vague, indistinguishable as English, French or Chinese.
The tune was weird, up and down, not melodious at all, mumbled indistinctly, sometimes near, sometimes far.
One moment Jian Jing felt it was indeed the wind, the next she suspected being fooled.
She could not discern, crawled frustrated out of bed to the bathroom.
"Ah!" A shrill scream came from under the floor.
Jian Jing: "..."
This was happening right when she needed to use the bathroom!
She hurriedly took care of her business, grabbed her phone, and rushed out the door. Rustling footsteps converged from all directions on the second floor guest room.
The one screaming was Kimberley, who stayed downstairs with Carl.
The door was wide open. Carl was holding his panicked wife, also looking shocked at the corner.
Sitting there was a skeleton in splendid clothes.